KSP training slideshow quotes Hitler, advocates ‘ruthless’ violence

Kudos to the high school journalists who broke this story from Kentucky. Satchel Walton and Cooper Walton, reporters at the Manuel Redeye, duPont Manual High School, Louisville Kentucky.

Manual RedEye is a national award winning student news publication for duPont Manual High School in Louisville, Kentucky. We have a staff of 28 members and strive to accurately cover and represent the Manual and Louisville communities. Manual RedEye is part of Manual’s Journalism and Communication magnet, one of the nation’s top award-winning media programs for high school students, preparing “aspiring students for careers in journalism, broadcasting, public relations, advertising, multimedia, graphic design, and photography—and learning leadership, writing, and media skills applicable to virtually any career.” We cover everything from the Male/Manual football game to the Kentucky Derby Festival to political elections.

And here's the story. Read the whole story here.

A training slideshow used by the Kentucky State Police (KSP) — the second largest police force in the state — urges cadets to be “ruthless killer[s]” and quotes Adolf Hitler advocating violence.

The slideshow was included in KSP documents obtained via an open records request by local attorney David Ward of Adams Landenwich Walton during the discovery phase of a lawsuit. Ward requested KSP materials used to train a detective who shot and killed a man in Harlan County, and Ward shared the presentation with Manual RedEye. 

One slide, titled “Violence of Action,” in addition to imploring officers to be “ruthless killer[s],” instructs troopers to have “a mindset void of emotion” and to “meet violence with greater violence.” 

A line from Adolf Hitler’s fascist and anti-Semitic manifesto, Mein Kampf, is featured in the slide: “the very first essential for success is a perpetually constant and regular employment of violence.”

The presentation also links to a Hitler page on Goodreads, a database of quotes and books. 

Two other slides quoting Hitler bring his total to three, making him the most quoted person in the presentation.